Child Care Pilot Project

Criteria

Request for Proposals from Minority Francophone Communities Background Benefits for Communities Guiding Principles for the Pilot Project Enriched Child Care Services Scope of the Pilot Project Responsibilities of Project Manager Responsibilities of the Communities Criteria Application Instructions Evaluation Process Annex A - Evaluation Criteria for the Letter of Intent Annex B - Template for the Letter of Intent Annex C - Organization Chart for a Community

To ensure the success of the pilot project, SDC has identified the following requirements that communities need to meet.

1. Not-for-profit organization

The applicant organization, which is the organization responsible for submitting its community’s application, must be a not-for-profit organization and carry out activities in the field of early childhood development in minority Francophone communities.

2. Local community

The applicant organization must represent a local community.

For the purposes of the pilot project, a community is local if it is contained in a particular geographic area whose limits are known to the residents. The geography of the community is continuous and contiguous. Residents of the area share a feeling of belonging and identify with at least part of the geographic community. For example, parents go to places where they meet people socially (such as parks), are members of social groups (such as community sports teams for their children) and/or have ties to social institutions (such as the school attended by their children and the school board).

The community may be a portion of a larger community, such as one finds in cities (e.g., Orleans in Ottawa). In this sense, one can speak of a “community within a community”. A community may also be an extended region in which many localities are linked by geography. In this case, one may speak of a “group of communities.”

3. Number of children

In each community proposed for the pilot project, there must be at least 40 three-year-old Francophone children.

The applicant organization must provide an estimate of the number of three-year-old Francophone children in its community (Francophone children are defined for purposes of the pilot project as children of a parent ayant droit and not only children for whom French is their mother tongue). This number must be greater than or equal to 40 in order to consider the community’s application. The applicant organization does not have to provide a list of the names of the children who could participate in the pilot project. This list will be drawn up by the community and the project manager after the communities have been selected.

The applicant organization must also provide a description of the linguistic profile of the three-year-old Francophone children in its community. This profile could include information on mother tongue, the language spoken at home, etc.

Because specific information on the number and linguistic profile of three-year-old Francophone children may not be readily available, the applicant organization might draw on information for all preschool children in their community to obtain an estimate. In this respect, communities may wish to use Census data compiled by region and by province that is available (in French) from the internet site of the Commission nationale des parents francophones: http://cnpf.ca/index.cfm??Repertoire_No=-1007459830&Voir=publi_liste&Categorie_No=754&Menu=0  .

4. Stakeholders

SDC has identified key stakeholders that must exist within a community involved in the pilot project: a community coordinator; an association of community partners in early childhood development; and a champion.

Community coordinator

The applicant organization must identify potential candidates to fill the position of community coordinator.

The community coordinator is hired by the project manager. The coordinator serves as the main point of contact in the community and is responsible for supervising all aspects of the implementation of the pilot project in the community. The coordinator shall establish regular and complete mechanisms for ongoing communication.

The community coordinator works full-time to perform many duties, including the following: helping with data collection; making sure that parents and children participate; and making sure that the community infrastructure are adequate and appropriate. The community coordinator must thus possess a variety of skills, including sound leadership abilities, knowledge of research and community development, excellent French-language communications skills (oral, written, and by e-mail), and a knowledge of the Francophone community.

Association of community partners in early childhood development

The applicant organization must show that there is a group of community partners in the proposed community that focuses on issues in early childhood development.

The association must be an existing association, must have experience in the field of early childhood development and must have carried out significant projects on a collaborative basis. The association should be comprised of a broad range of players in various sectors of activity (such as health, education and literacy).

Champion

The applicant organization must identify a champion in the proposed community.

The champion is defined as an organization or individual that plays a leadership role in arousing interest and promoting the participation of the members of the community for the duration of the pilot project.

5. Resources

The applicant organization must demonstrate that the community has the infrastructure (locations for delivery of both the child care and family literacy services) and materials (tables, chairs, crayons, toys, etc.) to deliver the enriched child care services throughout the duration of the pilot project, and the personnel required to deliver the child care services in child care centres, and that these resources meet provincial regulations. For this purpose, the applicant organization must partner with existing not-for-profit child care centres in order to use their infrastructure, materials and/or personnel for the pilot project for delivery of the child care services.